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THE 

STROPHIC   STRUCTURE 
of  ISAIAH  52:13-53 


BY 

ARTHUR  L.  BRESLICH 


THE  STROPHIC  STRUCTURE  OF  ISAIAH 

52:13-53 


BY 

ARTHUR  L.  BRESLICH 


A    THESIS  SUBMITTED  FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF    PHILOSOPHY 

UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN 

1904 


-;  . :   --.  ,  ',.  , 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


of  Wisconsin 

1904 


PRINTED  AT 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
1904 


THE  STROPHIC  STRUCTURE  OF  ISAIAH  52:13-53. 

IN  the  following  dissertation  an  attempt  is  made  to  show  that 
Isaiah  52  113-53  is  written  in  poetry,1  and  also  to  discover  the  original 
strophic  division  of  the  passage. 

Since  up  to  this  day  no  satisfactory  arrangement  of  this  passage 
has  been  offered,  it  is  evident  that  its  translation  is  also  not  very  satis- 
factory, because  in  Hebrew  poetry  the  form  of  a  passage — e.  g.,  the 
parallelism  —  very  often  decides  the  translation.  Thus  Delitzsch 
refuses  to  accept  the  translation  of  JTP  (Isa.  52:15)  by  "sprinkle," 
because  this  translation,  although  otherwise  allowable,  does  not  agree 
in  parallelism  with  tEElD  in  vs.  14.  Therefore,  since  form  and  mean- 
ing stand  in  inseparable  relation  to  each  other,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
investigate  the  translations  of  this  passage,  offered  in  connection  with  a 
deficient  poetical  scheme,  and  to  make  necessary  corrections  of  the  same. 

Ewald  remarks  very  correctly: 

In  order  to  recognize  somewhat  more  particularly  the  original  form  and 
meaning  of  this  passage,  which  is  in  many  respects  a  marvelous  production,  it  is 
well  first  of  all  to  remember  how  great  and  manifold  was  the  art  which  was 
very  early  employed  by  the  prophets  in  their  labors  and  literary  productions.2 

Several  divisions  have  been  offered  for  this  passage  by  those  who 
accept  it  as  poetry.  Briggs  divides  it  into  five  gradually  increasing 
strophes  of  9,  10,  n,  13,  14  lines;  Harper,  into  five  strophes  of  9,  10, 
n,  12,  13  lines;  G.  A.  Smith,  into  five  strophes  of  9,  10,  n,  13,  14 
lines ;  Duhm,  followed  by  Cheyne  in  the  Polychrome  Bible,  considers 
it  as  made  up  of  five  strophes  of  four  lines  each.  While  the  sugges- 
tions of  Briggs,  Harper,  and  G.  A.  Smith  do  not  differ  very  much 
from  each  other,  it  is  the  latter  who  deserves  credit  for  the  careful 
consideration  which  he  has  given  to  his  poetical  scheme.  After 
stating  the  division  of  the  poem,  as  mentioned  above,  he  says : 

Each  strophe  begins  with  one  or  two  words  which  summarize  the  meaning 
of  the  whole  strophe  and  form  the  title  for  it :  My  Servant  shall  prosper,  who 

hath  believed,  surely  our  sicknesses The  measure  is  neither  regular 

nor  smooth,  and  does  not  depend  on  rhyme,  yet  there  is  an  amount  of  asso- 
nance which  at  times  approaches  to  rhyme.3 

But,  after  all,  it  is  Duhm  who  has  succeeded  more  than  any  other  in 
bringing  this  great  prophecy  into  a  regular  strophical  arrangement. 

1  Kb'nig  prefers  to  call  the  Ebed-Yahweh  passages  "  prophecies  "  and  not  "  songs  "  or  "  poems." 
*  P.  of  O.  T.,  Vol.  IV,  p.  308.  3  E.  £.,  pp.  338  ff. 

3 


4  THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    $2:13-53 

The  only  objection  to  his  scheme  is  the  radical  and  arbitrary  change 
of  the  text  by  which  he  succeeds  in  bringing  the  poem  into  four-line 
strophes  of  even  meter ;  which  seems  to  be  a  higher  price  than  we  can 
afford  to  pay. 

It  is  assumed  by  Bartholet,  Duhm,  and  others  that  this  prophecy  is 
composed  of  different  parts,  written  by  different  authors.  The  pro- 
posed strophic  structure  will  prove  that  this  is  not  true,  because  the 
six  strophes  agree  in  form  and  stand  in  a  corresponding  relation  of 
thought  to  each  other. 

This  prophecy  has  all  the  characteristics  of  Hebrew  poetry.  It  is 
religious,  simple,  natural,  subjective,  sententious,  and  realistic.1  There 
are  examples  of  synonymous  antithetical  and  synthetical  parallelism  in 
it,  and  also  (Bishop  Jebb)  introverted  parallelism.  The  relation  of 
the  strophes  to  each  other  is  either  antithetical  or  progressive.  This 
prophecy  is  composed  of  two  parts,  which  stand  in  antithetical  rela- 
tion to  each  other.  The  first  part  might  have  as  title,  "  Israel  and  the 
Servant,"  and  the  second,  "  Yahweh  and  the  Servant."  Each  of  these 
parts  is  composed  of  three  strophes  of  ten  lines,  which  are  subdivided 
into  2,  4,  4  lines,  the  first  two  lines  always  pointing  out  the  topic  of 
the  remainder  of  the  strophe.  The  two  parts  agree  with  each  other  in 
their  poetical  arrangement — Strophes  I  and  IV,  II  and  V,  III  and  VI— 
as  shown  in  the  following  sketch  : 

I.  IV. 


The  details  of  the  poetical  arrangement  will  be  given  in  the  treat- 
ment of  the  single  strophes. 

A  similar  strophical  arrangement  to  that  of  Isa.,  chap.  53,  we  find 
in  Isa.  5  : 1-7. 

Almost  all  modern  commentators  agree  that  the  parable  of  the 
vineyard  is  written  in  poetry,  but  differ  as  to  its  extent :  Cheyne,5  vss. 
i-6a;  Duhm,3  vss.  1-4  (id,  il>,  2,  3-4)  and  5-7;  Gesenius,4  vss.  1-6 ; 

1  Briggs,  B.  S.,  p.  251.  3  Duhm's  commentary  on  Isaiah. 

2  Polychrome  Bible.  4  Gesenius's  commentary  oh  Isaiah. 


THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    $2:13-53  5 

Skinner,1  vss.  la,  1^-7;  Ewald,2  vss.  1-2;  Haupt,3  vss.  1-2,  3-4,  5-6,  7  ; 
Ernst  Meier,4  vss.  1-4,  5-7. 

Thus  we  see  that,  although  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
the  length  of  the  poem,  at  least  four  (Cheyne,  Duhm,  Meier,  Haupt) 
agree  that  there  is  a  marked  division  between  the  fourth  and  the  fifth 
verse.  Duhm  finds  the  right  subdivision  of  the  first  part  of  the  poem, 
but  fails  to  work  it  out  in  the  second.  Haupt's  scheme  is  certainly 
ingenious,  but  very  arbitrary,  for  he  omits  twenty-  five  words  on  the 
very  doubtful  ground  that  they  are  scribal  expansions,  such  as  we  meet 
with  in  other  texts. 

Leaving  the  text  as  it  stands,  another  division  of  this  poem  might 
be  offered  :  The  parable  consists  of  two  strophes,  each  strophe  being 
composed  of  three  parts  of  2,  8,  8  lines,  the  first  two  lines  of  each 
strophe  expressing  the  theme.  (Compare  Isa.,  chap.  53,  which  is  com- 
posed of  six  strophes,  each  of  2,  4,  4  lines.)  Hence  the  Hebrew  text 
of  Isa.  5  :  1-7  may  be  arranged  as  follows  : 

I.  II. 

TTb  feti  nT«»  «  Dsna  «5-nrti»  nron  * 

tzrob  "HYI  rrp-B  rirttb  nw  ^arnica  na 

hTTb  mn  D-O  *  VOIIBE  ion  * 

•parc-p  "ppa  *onb  mm 

inbpoi  inpm  TTO  -pa 

pn-o  irwi  OE-iEb  mm 

wra  b^M  p^i  1537"  5<b  nnn  inn^xi 

in  nsn  a^-Dai  nhT25i  nraic  nbn  ^nr  161 


MY*  nroi  ^  nixnn  mm 

mim  isw  b^ntc^  rvn 

mim  irhKi 


TO  ntob-rra 
ia 

mwb 


nam 

«.  The  theme:  the  song  of  the  vineyard,  d.  The  theme  :  the  fate  of  the  vineyard. 

b.  Its  preparation.  e.  Its  destruction. 

c.  Its  fruit.  /.  The  reason  for  it. 

1  Cambridge  edition.  3  A.  J.  S.  L.  L.,  July,  1903,  p.  195. 

2  Isaiah  2  (Gottingen,  1867),  p.  306.  4  Commentary  (Pforzheim,  1850). 


THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    52:13-53 

A.     ISRAEL  AND  THE   SERVANT. 
STROPHE   I.       THE    ANNOUNCEMENT    OF    THE    SERVANT. 

*73$   bnDT2T   nDJl  a     Behold  my  Servant  will  be  successful;1 
»"Qjfi   812331    D1T  b     He  will  rise,  be  exalted  and  be  very  high. 

"pb?   1E3JIB    TlDitt  c     Just  as  many  were  appalled  at  thee,2 

t"\)"TM~p  ^    —  So  disfigured  was  his  appearance  among 

men. 

"PXlnl  e     And  his  form  among  the  children  of  men  — 
FTP   "p  /    So  will  he  startle3  nations. 

D^H^  ^    Many  will  be  silent  before  him  ; 
DiTB    D^/J   1£Sph  ^     Kings  will  close  their  mouths  ; 
DJlb    ^BC"tfb    TfflKI  *      For  what  has  n°t  been  told  them  they  see  ; 

niDHI  j     And  what  they  have  not  heard  they  con- 
sider. 

The  first  strophe  of  the  Ebed-Jahweh  poem  consists  of  three  parts 
of  2,  4,  4  lines;  the  first  being  the  theme,  the  announcement  concern- 
ing the  Servant,  the  other  two  carrying  out  the  idea  of  exaltation 
expressed  therein.  The  relation  of  the  two  equal  parts  is  progressive. 
The  first  strophe  as  a  whole  renders  the  main  thought  of  the  prophecy, 
namely,  that  the  Servant  will  rise  from  the  lowest  humiliation  to  the 
highest  exaltation. 

Lines  a  and  b  stand  in  synonymous  parallelism  to  each  other,  but 
they  are  progressive  in  thought  and  lead  up  to  a  climax;4  or  their 
relation  may  be  expressed  as  that  of  cause  and  effect.  In  a  the  cause 
of  b  is  given  :  on  account  of  his  success  the  Servant  will  rise  ;  and  in  b 
the  effect  or  consequence  is  stated  :  his  exaltation  is  due  to  the  success 
of  his  mission.  Note  in  b  the  accumulation  of  kindred  words,  varying 
slightly  in  sense  to  express  the  greatness  of  the  exaltation. 

Duhm  cuts  out  b^312T,  because  the  LXX  omits  the  word  D1T  in 
the  next  line,  which  is  arbitrary  and  done  only  to  perfect  the  trimeter 
in  the  two  lines. 

A  question  arises  concerning  the  person  who  is  speaking  here.  Is 
it  the  prophet  or  Yahweh  ?  And  in  the  second  strophe  is  it  Israel  or 


i  Budde  :     KltD'1  J  Ew.,  Dil.  :  "  Geschick  haben  ;  "  Del.,  Chey.,  Luth.,  Syr.,  LXX,  Vulg.  :  "  deal 
wisely;"  G.  A.  Smith,  Ges.,  Briggs:  "prosper." 


2  Versions,  Ges.,  Duhm,  Gies., 

3  Ges.,  Duhm,  Del.,  Chey.,  Dil.,  Smith,  Or.,  a.  o.,  offer  similar  translations  ;  others  :  "  sprinkle. 

4  See  Del.,  commentary. 


THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    52:13-53  7 

the  heathen,  or  someone  else  ?  The  greatest  diversity  of  opinion  pre- 
vails on  this  subject. 

Expressions  like  "  my  Servant"  and  "my  people"  will  be  under- 
stood only  by  taking  into  consideration  the  peculiar  position  of  the 
prophets  of  Israel.  They  stand  between  God  and  the  people,  some- 
times speaking  in  the  name  of  God,  sometimes  as  one  of  the  people, 
and  then  again  speaking  personally,  and  often  changing  suddenly 
from  one  position  to  the  other,  especially  in  animated  discourse.1 

Taking  this  position,  it  will  not  be  very  difficult  to  see  that  Rosen - 
miiller's  dramatic  arrangement  of  this  poem  is  extreme  (in  52:13-15 
he  regards  Yahweh  as  speaking;  in  53:1,  the  prophets;  in  53:2-7, 
the  people;  in  53  :  8-12,  Yahweh).  It  is  even  quite  hard  to  accept 
Gesenius's  arrangement.  By  following  the  prophet  through  his  dis- 
course, we  find  that  he  takes  the  same  position  as  a  modern  preacher 
in  addressing  his  congregation,  speaking  of  God  or  of  Jesus  as  "my 
God"  and  "my  Jesus,"  whom  he  himself  loves,  and  whom  he  wishes 
to  be  accepted  by  the  people.  In  this  way  the  change  of  person  in  c 
and  /  can  be  explained,  and  also  the  independent  position  at  the 
beginning  of  the  second  strophe,  and  that  later,  in  speaking  of  the 
fatal  sin  of  the  people,  who  reject  his  *n3?,  he  counts  himself  as  one 
of  them,  not  because  he  also  rejects  the  Servant,  whom  he  has  preached, 
but  rather  to  show  his  sympathetic  feeling  toward  the  people  that  he 
loves.  "  My  Servant "  therefore  means  the  Servant  who  is  revealed  to 
me,  whom  I  preach,  and  whom  I  love. 

The  lines  c,  d,  e,  f  form  the  second  part  of  the  first  strophe  and 
furnish  a  good  example  of  the  high  art  of  poetry  found  in  this 
prophecy:  c  and  /  form  an  antithesis,  ^llBfctt  and  "p  expressing  the 
degree  of  the  change  from  I/^JHJ  to  HT*1,  and  Y27J1Z3  and  fTP  denoting 
the  great  change  from  aversion  to  joyous  approval.  The  rhyme  of 
D^*l  (c)  and  D13  (/)  is  to  be  noted.  Lines  d  and  e,  which  are 
explanatory  of  c,  stating  the  cause  of  TflttlB,  form  a  synonymous 
parallelism,  and  in  connection  with  c  and  f  are  an  example  of  the 
so-called  introverted  parallelism,  which  is  found  in  three  other  places 
in  this  poem. 

Duhm  makes  two  lines  out  of  c  by  adding  Vb^  YCEIZT  "p  ,  and  thus 
forms  the  first  strophe  of  a,  b,  c,  and  the  second  of  d,  e,  /,  g,  h.  In  his 
comment  on  c,  d,  e,f,  g  he  says  that  d  and  e  cannot  be  a  parenthesis, 
because  the  old  versions  have  not  translated  it  so ;  *pb3>  must  be  a  mis- 
take, and  hence  there  must  be  a  corruption  of  the  text  at  this  point. 

1  See  Konig's  E.  B.  C.,  p.  160. 


8  THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    52:13-53 


"p""p  ne  changes  to  5"5.  Line  c  is,  of  course,  "griindlich  verderbt," 
but  worse  than  all  is  the  fact  that  c,  d,  e,  /,  g  do  not  work  out  into 
four-line  strophes  as  nicely  as  42  :  i  ff.;  49  :  i  ff.;  50  :  4  ff. 

Although  Duhm  shows  great  ingenuity  in  carrying  out  his  arrange- 
ment, he  has  met  with  but  little  success  in  clearing  up  the  situation, 
since  neither  his  translation  nor  the  combination  of  lines  is  very  satis- 
factory and  the  reasons  for  his  changes  are  very  weak.  The  versions 
give  no  encouragement  for  them,  and  Tpbl?  does  not  necessarily  have 
to  be  a  mistake,  for  the  change  of  the  person,  which  might  have  been 
caused  here  by  the  parenthesis  and  the  transition  from  the  animated 
direct  address  to  the  Servant  to  a  discussion  of  his  exaltation,  is  a 
common  occurrence  in  Hebrew  poetry.  Line  c  is  not  corrupt  at  all, 
and  the  whole  passage  works  out  well  as  it  stands.  The  change  of  "p 
into  hlD,  as  Gies.  suggests,  in  d,  is  not  necessary:  nor  is  there  anything 
omitted  between  c  and  d,  as  he  intimates. 

Aside  from  the  versions  —  in  which,  however,  we  find  the  passage 
verbally  translated  —  Ges.,  Smith,  Del.,  Chey.,  Or.,  Ew.,  Dil.,  and 
others  recognize  the  lines  d  and  e  as  a  parenthesis  against  Duhm  and 
Chey.  (Polychrome).  In  fact,  there  is  no  reason  against  this  view,  at 
least  so  far  as  accomplishment  of  a  strophical  arrangement  is  concerned. 

In  HJ^^/J  "pa  is  best  taken  partitively  in  a  comparative  or  superlative 
sense  (Ges.,  Ew.,  Dil.):  "So  disfigured  among  men"  or  "the  most  dis- 
figured of  men"  (cf.  Ps.  45  :  3).  The  rendering  "away  from  men"1  or 
"not  that  of  man"*  seems  awkward. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  »TT  must  stand  over  against  T23312J  in  c 
according  to  the  rules  of  Hebrew  poetry.  This  being  a  fact,  the  most 
natural  translation  of  the  Hiphil  would  be  "to  cause  to  rejoice"  or 
"startle."  In  translating  the  word  thus,  we  stand  in  accord  with  the 
Hebrew  meaning  of  the  word  and  with  the  rules  of  Hebrew  poetry, 
which  ought  to  settle  the  argument  on  this  point.  The  word  D"1^  is 
probably  chosen  to  indicate  that  the  exaltation  is  far  greater  than  the 
humiliation. 

Lines  g,  h,  i,  j  form  the  last  part  of  this  first  strophe.  While  in  c, 
d,  e,  f  only  the  change  from  terror  to  joy  is  stated,  and  the  reason  for 
the  former  is  given,  g,  h,  /,  /,  being  progressive  in  thought,  state  the 
manner  in  which  the  joy  is  expressed  and  give  the  reasons  therefor. 

If  the  first  of  the  suggestions,  mentioned  below,  is  applied  —  to 
insert  the  Piel  of  VSp  in  g  —  then  g  and  h  form  an  antithetic  parallel- 
ism :  the  multitudes  rejoicing,  hastening  (leaping)  to  the  Servant,  the 

i  LXX,  Vulg.,  Chey.,  Konig's  Synt.  *  Duhm.  Del.,  Harper's  Synt. 


THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    52:13-53  9 

kings  standing  by  in  astonishment  ;  the  multitudes  attracted  by  what 
they  see  running  to  him,  the  kings  conservatively  considering  the  great 
announcement.  Thus  g  and  /,  and  h  and/,  would  go  together.  If  the 
second  suggestion  is  applied  —  the  insertion  of  the  Kal  of  VSp  in  line 
g  —  g  and  h  would  be  synonymous  :  the  many  and  the  kings  beholding 
the  change  in  the  career  of  the  Servant  are  standing  in  consternation 
or  astonishment.  Lines  i  and/  are  synonymous. 

Duhm  in  his  comment  on  this  strophe  rightly  remarks  that  there  is 
something  left  out  somewhere,  but  makes  the  correction  at  the  wrong 
place  and  thus  disconnects  the  lines  that  according  to  their  meaning 
ought  to  go  together.  By  adding  an  extra  line  after  c,  he  is  able  to 
make  three  four-line  strophes  out  of  Isa.  52:13-15,  with  the  addition 
of  53  :  i,  but  they  do  not  seem  to  hold  together;  they  sound  awkwardly 
and  forced,  and  although  Duhm  tries  very  hard  to  give  an  explanation 
for  their  relation,  he  has  but  little  success  in  accomplishing  it. 

No  doubt  there  is  a  difficulty  here,  but  Duhm's  suggestion  makes 
things  still  more  difficult.  I  therefore  propose  to  insert  after  D^ZTl 
Vb?  in  g  either  the  Piel  or  the  Kal  of  VBp.  The  Piel  of  ysp  means 
"to  leap  upon,"1  hence  :  "many  will  leap  upon  him,  or  hasten  to  him." 
If  the  Kal  of  V*Sp  is  inserted  or  assumed,  we  should  have  here  a  con- 
struction similar  to  that  in  Strophe  VI,  e,  /.  Then  the  line  would 
read:  "Many  will  be  silent  before  him." 

The  D"Q"I,  which  would  be  superfluous  with  D"1^,  refers  to  the 
people  mentioned  in  c:  "the  many,  who  were  appalled,  will  now 
hasten  unto  him  for  joy  or  stand  silent  in  astonishment." 

These  suggestions  are  to  be  recommended  because  (i)  they  make 
possible  a  poetical  arrangement  that  can  be  carried  out  all  through 
the  poem  ;  (2)  they  do  not  disturb  the  connection  of  thought,  but 
rather  bring  it  into  a  perfect  poetical  form  ;  (3)  they  enable  us  to 
understand  the  words  D^13  JIT'S  the  translation  of  which  has  caused 
great  trouble;  (4)  they  are  brought  about  by  a  very  small  correction  of 
the  text  —  an  addition  of  one  word,  which  could  easily  have  been 
omitted  by  one  of  the  early  copyists  on  account  of  the  similarity  in 
sound  to  the  next  word  in  one  case  or  a  repetition  of  the  same  word 
in  the  other. 

STROPHE  ii.     ISRAEL'S  INCREDULITY. 

"PEHJl   Tffl  «     Who  believes2  our  message?3 


Q"2    »linh   21"rn  *>     And  the  arm  °f  Yahweh,  unto  whom  is  it 
revealed  ? 

*  Ges.,  Diet. 

2  Del.:  "Who  has  believed?"  Chey.,  Or.,  Ew.,  Ges.,  Dil.  :  "  Who  believed?"  Duhm:  "Wer  kann 
glauben  ?" 

3Ew.,  Duhm:  "prophecy;"  Del.,  Chey.,  Or.:  "  that  which  we  heard." 


10  THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    52:13-53 


For1  he  grew  up  like  a  sapling  before*  him, 
And  as  a  rootsprout  from  parched  ground, 
T7H  Ki  i    IKtrja     *     He   had   no  form   nor  majesty,   that  we 

should  perceive3  him; 

/    And  no  sightliness,  that  we  should  delight3 
in  him. 

blfil   »TQ5  g    Despised  (he  was)  and  deserted4  of  men  ;s 
21T1   t^DKM   12TK  h     A   man6   in   pain   and   acquainted?  with 
sickness  ; 

D^DSD   *l)nD/Q^1  z     And  as  one8  from  whom  there  is  hiding 

of  the  face  ; 
STQ5  y     Despised,  and  we  esteemed  him  not. 


The  second  strophe,  as  the  first  and  the  four  following  strophes, 
consists  of  three  parts  of  2,  4,  4  lines.  The  first  part  gives  the  theme, 
"  Israel's  incredulity,"  in  the  form  of  two  rhetorical  questions  ;  the 
other  two  state  the  reason  for  the  same.  The  last  part  is  epexegetical 
to  the  second.  The  second  strophe  stands  in  connection  with  the  first 
by  carrying  out  the  thought  expressed  in  Strophe  I,  c,  d,  e. 

Lines  a  and  b  form  a  synonymous  parallelism.  Duhm  falsely 
brings  IDt^ETfl  and  fflnbjiS  into  correspondence,  and  states  that  the 
former  relates  to  prophetic  hearing,  the  latter  to  prophetic  seeing  ;  but 
0,  b  form  a  chiasm,  and  therefore  "PE^H  h*J  and  HtlbjD  correspond. 
Lines  c  and  d  are  synonymous  ;  also  e  and  f.  Note  the  rhyme  in  e 
and  /.  The  repetition  of  |$b  denotes  the  entirety  of  the  humiliation. 

The  prophet,  who  in  the  two  rhetorical  questions  has  expressed  the 
improbability  of  Israel's  belief  in  his  message,  gives  now  the  reason 
for  it,  hence  the  1  cons,  must  be  translated  "for"  (Cheyne).  V5Sb 
refers  to  Jahweh  in  b.  It  does  not  mean  "  under  Yahweh's  care  and 

1  Del.,  Dil.:  "And;"  Gies.:  "Auch;"  Chey.:  "For." 

2  Ew.,  Chey.,  Gies.  :  "  before  us." 

3  For  construction  see:  Ges.,  K.,  i66a;  Driver,  H.  T.,  64;  Davidson,  Syntax,  6$c. 

4  Duhm,  Del.,  Chey.,  Or.,  Ew.,  Ges.,  Gies.,  and  others.     Lange,  Hengstenb.,  Nag.  :  "ceasing  to 
be  man."     Some  falsely  suggest  superlative  idea  (Sym.,  Pes.,  Mart.,  Ros.,  Harper,  Synt.,  9,  4^). 

5  Compare  Ps.  141:4;    Prov.  8:4;  Ges.,  K,,  296.     Hardly  a  better  class  in  distinction  to  mfcfc 
131B  (Del.). 

6  For  relation  of  the  two  words  see  Harper,  Syntax  ,  8,  $e;  Ges.,  fC.,  128^. 
T=expertus,  Konig,  S1.,  235^-  Davidson,  100,  R.  7;  Ew.,  Ges.,  Chey.,  Dil. 

8  Ges.,  Ew.,  Del.,  Chey.,  and  others.  Some  take  the  word  "1)T|D12  as  Partic>Ple  (Konig,  192; 
Ges.)  ;  others  as  a  noun  (Green,  941,  and  most  commentators). 


THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    $2:13-53  II 

protection"  (Dil.),  but  "under  Yahweh's  eyes."  For  Israelites  could 
not  understand  how  this  person  could  remain  in  such  a  lowly  condi- 
tion, if  he  really  was  Yahweh's  Servant. 

Isaiah  is  very  fond  of  using  illustrations  from  nature.  There  are  a 
number  of  examples  of  it  in  this  poem  :  *nn  Kb*l  ib  ""IKIT&tb  is  a 
hendiadys  (Duhm),  i.  e.,  "majestic  form,"  or  "beautiful  appearance." 
IJlK^OI  must  be  taken  with  e  against  the  accents  and  the  transla- 
tions of  the  versions.  It  is  difficult  to  see  why  Duhm  and  Gies.  sacri- 
fice the  good  parallelism  in  e,  f  by  cutting  out  this  word  for  metrical 
reasons.  The  parallelism  is  also  against  the  conditional  sense  of  the 
phrase  (as  Lange,  Del.,  Chey.),  but  favors  the  translation  offered  (Or., 
Ges.,  Ew.,  and  others):  the  Servant  did  not  have  a  majestic  appear- 
ance, and  therefore  Israel  did  not  recognize  him.  The  1fI&O3  in  ^, 
being  in  parallelism  to  T/JFI,  means  "to  perceive  with  pleasure." 

The  relation  of  g,  h,  /,  /  to  the  former  is  epexegetical.  The  facts 
are  stated  here  which  were  illustrated  in  c,  d,  e,  f.  Note  the  climax : 
despised ;  deserted  ;  a  man  in  pain ;  one  from  whom  there  is  hiding  of 
the  face.  Lines  g  and  h  are  synonymous ;  also  h  and  /".  This  part  of 
the  strophe  is  another  example  of  the  introverted  parallelism.  It  is 
very  important  to  observe  this  in  making  a  correct  translation.  »TQ5 
and  bin  may  be  taken  as  two  constructs,1  but  the  parallelism  with  j 
favors  the  independent,  absolute  position  of  {"ITH3 :  "despised,  and 
therefore  .  .  .  .  "2  In  HTS5  reference  is  made  to  the  appearance  of 
the  Servant,  as  the  versions  indicate,  and  not  to  the  treatment  of  the 
1U,  which  is  expressed  in  the  following  clause  both  in  g  and/ 

Duhm  and  others  would  infer  from  this  passage  that  the  Servant's 
disease  was  leprosy,  but  3  makes  only  a  comparison  with  that  disease, 
and  by  no  means  introduces  a  statement  to  that  effect.  Duhm's  remark 
on  this  passage,  that  the  description  of  the  Servant's  suffering  is  too 
realistic  to  consider  the  prophecy  an  ideal  one,  is  certainly  not  justi- 
fied, since  the  ideal  is  not  brought  out  in  the  nature  of  the  suffering, 
but  in  the  representative  suffering  for  the  people,  as  shown  in  the  next 
strophe. 

STROPHE  in.    ISRAEL'S  CONFESSION. 

Surely,3  but  our  sicknesses  he  bore  ; 
And  our  pains  he  took  upon  himself. 

i  Ew.,  Synt.,  235 ;  Dav.,  28  R,  4,  and  most  of  the  commentators.  2  Green,  Gr.,  258,  y. 

3  V3fc$,  "surely!  but,"  is  not  only  affirmative  (LXX,  Syriac,  Vulg.,  Luther,  Del.)  or  adversative 
(Ges.,  Lange,  Ew.,  Duhm,  Dil.),  but  combines  both  meanings  here  (Chey.,  Or.,  Gies.). 


12  THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    $2:13-53 


c  For  we  considered  him  stricken,1 

d  Smitten  of  God  and  afflicted  ; 

e  But  ne  was  pierced  for  our  rebellions, 

/  Slain  for  our  iniquities. 

IDElblZJ    *ID1E  ^    Tne    chastisement    for2  our   peace  (was) 
upon  him 

ItVQFQl  h     And  through  his  stripes  came  healing  to  us. 
We  all  like  sheep  have  gone  astray  ; 
We  have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way. 

This  strophe  stands  in  antithetical  relation  to  the  former.  The 
theme  is  Israel's  confession.  Israel  has  rejected  the  Servant  on 
account  of  his  lowly  appearance,  but  now  they  confess  their  grave 
mistake,  seeing  that  he  suffered  for  them. 

Lines  a  and  b  are  synonymous;  they  connect  themselves  closely 
with  11,^.  fcttBD,  being  in  parallelism  to  b^O,  cannot  mean  "take 
away."  Gies.  cuts  out  SOU  in  a  and  inserts  it  in  b  for  metrical  reasons. 
There  is  no  support  for  this.  Some  versions  imply  a  X1H  in  both  lines. 

Lines  c,  d,  e,  f  are  explanatory  to  a  and  ^,  being  introduced  by  1 
(cf.  II,  c).  Lines  c  and  d  are  synonymous,  also  e  and  /.  Lines  e 
and  /  are  antithetical  to  c  and  d.  1  in  c  must  be  translated  by  "  for," 
as  in  II,  c,  and  not  by  "and"  or  "while."  The  strophical  arrange- 
ment brings  out  the  different  meanings  of  the  1  in  this  strophe.  VI 
resume  the  double  meaning  of  "pX  in  a:  "for  it  is  true  that  .  .  .  . 
but."  Most  commentators  bring  c  in  antithesis  to  fcOfl  in  a,  and  there- 
fore translate  1  by  "but"  or  "while."3  This  strophical  arrangement, 
strengthened  by  the  position  of  the  pronouns,4  indicates  that  c  is 
antithetical  to  e  and  not  to  a.  DVlbtf  is  in  thought  to  be  taken  with 
3?1J05  and  also  with  n53?7J.  The  words  bbn  and  Ml  indicate  the 
death  of  the  Servant.  Thus  e,  f  render  an  additional  thought  in 
stating  the  end  of  the  affliction.  Note  the  accumulation  of  words 
denoting  pain  and  suffering,  intimating  the  severity  of  judgment  (cf. 
I,  a,  b}.  Duhm's  remark  that  bbn  and  &DT  denote  the  effect  of  lep- 
rosy is  rather  far-fetched. 

Lines  g  and  h  are  synonymous;  also  i  and/.  Note  the  chiasm  and 
antithesis  in  g  and  h.  The  blessing  of  the  Servant's  representative 

1  Used  of  any  disease  or  affliction  brought  about  by  God's  direct  judgment  ;  does  not  therefore 
necessarily  indicate  that  the  Servant  was  afflicted  with  leprosy. 

2  Genitive  of  purpose  (cf.  Gesenius). 

3Duhm,  Del.,  Or.,  Ew.,  Dil.,  Gies.,  against  Driver  (H.  7\,i6o),  Ges.,  Chey. 
4  Harper,  Synt.,  7,  i.  5  Konig,  275*. 


THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    52:13-53  13 

suffering  is  stated  in  g,  h.  In  the  last  two  lines  Israel's  painful  con- 
fession is  resumed  and  concluded  (cf.  II,/).  They  are  not  to  be  taken 
as  giving  the  reason  for  the  Servant's  suffering  (Del.,  Lange,  Ges.,  Dil., 
and  others),  but  refer  only  to  Israel's  failure  to  recognize  the  Servant. 

Note  figure  from  animal  life  (cf.  II,  c,  d). 

We  have  now  come  to  the  end  of  the  first  part  of  the  poem :  Israel 
and  the   Servant.     The  three  strophes,   then,   express  the  following 
principal  and  secondary  thoughts  : 
A.    Israel  and  the  Servant. 

I.    The  announcement  of  the  Servant. 

a.  His  humiliation. 

b.  His  exaltation. 
II.    Israel's  incredulity. 

a.  Because  his  form  and  figure  were  lowly. 

b.  Therefore  he  was  not  accepted. 
III.    Israel's  confession. 

a.  He  was  afflicted,  but  for  us. 

b.  He  brought  us  peace,  but  we  did  not  recognize  it. 

B.     YAHWEH  AND  THE  SERVANT. 

At  this  place  there  is  a  marked  difference  in  the  treatment  of  the 
subject.  There  is  a  sudden  turn  from  Israel's  to  Yahweh's  relation  to 
the  Servant.  With  Yahweh  another  person  is  introduced,  although 
referred  to  in  II,  b,  c;  III,  d.  As  stated  in  the  introduction,  there  is  a 
corresponding  similarity  in  the  poetical  form  in  Strophes  I  and  IV, 
II  and  V,  III  and  VI. 

STROPHE  iv.     YAHWEH'S  PLAN  :   THE  SERVANT'S  HUMILIATION. 
"p")  a     But x  Yahweh  caused  to  fall  upon  him 
TO   ritf  b     The  iniquity 8  of  us  all. 

123B5  c     He  was  oppressed,2  but  he  humbled  him- 
*P3         self  and  opened  not  his  mouth, 
"JT2J5  d    As  a  lamb,3  that4  is  led  to  the  slaughter; 
iTTO  .nj3b   bri"01  e     And  as  a  sheep,3  that4  is  dumb  before  her 

shearer, 
VB   nMEP   fc^bl  /    So  did  he  not  open  his  mouth. 

iGies.,  Ges.:  "but;"  Del.,  Chey.,  Or.,  Dil.,  versions:  "and;"  Duhm,  Ew. :  "while"  or  "yjet." 

2  wy  is  collective  and  includes  sin  and  the  consequence  of  sin,  or  punishment  (Chey.). 

3  Read  HtD3  (Konig,  zggA;  Ew.,  5>«/.,  33).     HtU  is  a  male,  brH  >s  a  grown  female  sheep 
(Del.). 

4  Relative  clause,  *YOfc$  being  omitted. 


14  THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    52:13-53 

S    Through1  oppression  and  judgment2  he 

was  taken3  away; 

^     And  as  for  his  generation,4  who  considers 
*O  *     That4  he  was  cut  off  from  the  land  of  the 

living, 
j     On  account  of  the  sin  of  my5  people  he 

was  slain.6 

In  a,  b  the  theme  is  stated :  the  Servant's  humiliation.  Israel's 
confession  is  stated  here  as  a  fact :  Yahweh  has  made  the  Servant  a 
sacrifice  for  Israel.  The  rest  of  the  strophe  describes  the  representa- 
tive suffering  of  the  Servant,  and  how  he  bore  it  with  voluntary  endur- 
ance and  submissive  silence  (Del.). 

Lines  a,  b  are  synthetic,  but  contain  an  antithesis :  *O  and  "Oblj- 
The  division  of  thought  is  marked  by  the  adversative  1,  which  stands 
over  against  the  last  strophe  as  well  as  in  contrast  to  the  whole  of  the 
first  part.  From  now  on,  as  will  be  shown  in  the  comment  of  the 
following  strophes,  the  poet  brings  out  Yahweh  as  the  acting  person, 
who  humiliates,  puts  to  death,  and  rewards  the  Servant. 

"p3>  refers,  not  to  Israel's  failure  to  recognize  the  Servant,  nor  to 
any  particular  sin,  but  to  Israel's  sin  in  general,  which  consisted  mainly 
in  disobedience  against  Yahweh. 

Lines  f,  d,  <?,  f  are  explanatory  of  a,  b.  Lines  c,  f  and  d,  e  go 
together  and  form  another  introverted  parallelism.  They  are  synony- 
mous. Note  again  the  figures  from  animal  life. 

Duhm  and  Gies.  by  cutting  out /destroy  the  finish  that  is  given  to 
this  strophe  (cf.  II,  g,  h,  i,  j).  Gies.  also  cuts  out  JT-bfcO-  Both 
suggestions  are  arbitrary. 

There    are   a   number    of   explanations    given   with    reference    to 

1  Dil.,  Lange,  Chey.,  Gies.:  "on  account  of,  through;"  Duhm,  Ges.,  Del.,  Ew.,  Or.:  "out  of." 

2  Best  understood  as  hendiadys  (Lange,  Del.) :  "  oppressive  judgment ; "  *.  e,,  "  unrighteous  admin- 
istration of  justice." 

3  See  Ew.,  Synt.,  124;  Konig,  324^/3  ;  Green,  245,  ze. 

4  Dil. :   The  translations  of  ^*1  by  "  seed,  offspring,  fate,  habitation,  grave,"  are  forced  and  do  not 
agree  with  the  meaning  of  "\1^ ,  which  means  contemporaries  or  generation. 

^Jj$  is  best  taken  in  demonstrative  force,  which  is  probably  the  original  usage  of  the  word  (Ew., 
critical  notes;  Chey.,  Del.,  Dil.,  Ges.).  The  phrase  is  either  ace.  abs.  (Ges.,  Lange,  Duhm)  or  nom. 
abs.  with  demonstrative  J"|fc$  (Chey.).  Orelli  takes  JHb5  as  preposition.  Against  Duhm's  criticism 
on  this  passage  can  be  said  that  the  absolute  position  of  mi~T"lfc$  is  for  emphasis,  and  not  because 
the  contemporaries  are  newly  introduced,  and  further  that  the  prophet  does  not  expect  them  to  consider 
the  Servant's  ascension,  but  the  Servant's  representative  suffering.  The  translation  of  "^  by  "that" 
does  not  make  the  sentence  too  long,  if  we  take.f,  k,  ttj  (Chey.,  Ew.,  Ges.,  Dil.  translate  "that")  as 
synthetic  parallelism. 

5  Affectionate  expression  of  the  prophet. 

6  Refers  to  the  Servant  (Ges.,  although  he  takes  Iftb  »s  plural ;    Del.,  Chey.,  Or.,  Ges.,  M.,  261)  ; 
Ew.  and  Dil.  refer  it  to  *?£$ ;  Duhm  follows  LXX :  "  unto  death." 


THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    $2:13-53  1  5 


TZ330,  and  also  some  changes  of  the  Mas.  text  offered 
by  taking  JOH  with  IT  jD  (Gies.)  and  changing  to  to  iZJjiU  (Pes.)  or  ISM 
(Vulg.).  Gies.  remarks  rightly  that,  according  to  the  translation,  "  he 
was  ill-treated,  while"  ....  (Lange,  Del.,  Dil.),  the  text  ought  to  be 
reversed.  He  therefore  reads  .  .  .  .1  fcOJTJ  1&2D  and  translates,  "  he  was 
plagued  and  humiliated."  Others  translate  OTTl  by  "though"  (Ges., 
Ew.,  Or.)  or  "but"  (Duhm,  Chey.). 

Neither  is  there  any  necessity  to  change  the  position  of  &V|»"I  (Gies.) 
to  avoid  the  awkward  translation  of  Lange,  Del.,  Dil.;  nor  need  we 
follow  Ges.,  Ew.,  Or.,  for  their  translation  "  though"  is  still  less  in 
harmony  with  the  meaning  and  does  not  explain  OTT1-  The  meaning 
is  :  though  he  was  oppressed,  smitten,  he  humbled  himself,  did  not 
object  to  such  degrading  treatment.  Therefore  "but"  (Duhm,  Chey.) 
alone  explains  the  position  of  fcOlTJ,  bringing  it  into  contrast  with  the 
active  subject  of  TZJjO-  There  is  a  difference  of  opinion,  however,  as 
to  who  that  person  is.  Duhm  says  it  is  "  das  Geschick;"  most  of  the 
commentators  leave  it  indefinite,  but  the  context  shows  very  plainly 
that  it  is  Yahweh,  who,  as  a,  b  state,  placed  upon  the  Servant  the 
Ijb^  V13?.  Not  that  he  smote  the  Servant,  but  that  he  allowed  him  to 
be  smitten  by  the  people.  See  comment  on  IV,  g,  and  V,  a,  g.  The 
meaning  of  this  sentence  then  is  :  he  was  oppressed,  smitten  by  God, 
but  he  humbled  himself  and  did  not  open  his  mouth.  The  last  clause 
may  be  taken  as  circumstantial  to  »W3. 

The  subject  of  VS  fiftS"1  tfbl  is  the  Servant,  and  not  bm  of  the 
preceding  line  (Ges.),  because  bin  is  fern.,  and  c,  f  ought  to  agree 
with  the  subject  for  poetical  reasons  (introv.  par.).  The  comparison 
does  not  end  with  e  (Del.),  but  c,  d  and  e,f  form  two  comparisons. 
Therefore  1  in  /  must  be  translated  by  "so"  (Dil.,  Or.).  Others  take 
/  independently,  and  then  it  would  be  merely  a  repetition  and  super- 
fluous, as  stated  by  Duhm,  who  cuts  out/.  The  correction  of  the  text 
by  Gies.,  who  cuts  out  HEbfcW  in  e  and  adds  JHK  after  nFl2^  in  /, 
deserves  no  consideration. 

The  comparison  drawn  here  could  hardly  have  been  made  by  the 
poet  without  the  consideration  of  the  inner  relation  between  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  lamb  in  the  Jewish  cult  and  the  sacrifice  of  the  Servant. 

The  versions  differ  from  this  point  on  from  the  Massoretic  text  and 
from  each  other  to  such  an  extent  that  they  are  hardly  trustworthy  for 
the  reproduction  of  the  original  text,  but  seem  to  be  free  translations 
according  to  the  individual  view  taken  with  regard  to  the  poem. 

Lines  g,  h,  i,  j  refer  to  b.  They  are  best  taken  as  synthetic  paral- 
lelism. Note  the  antithesis  in/  and  the  chiasm  in  /,/.  Commentators 


1 6  THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    52:13-53 

seem  to  find  great  difficulty  in  the  translation  of  this  passage,  but  their 
troubles  are  due  either  to  their  efforts  to  bring  the  text  into  harmony 
with  their  own  views,  or  to  their  inability  to  find  the  right  connection 
of  the  sentences.  The  fact  that  the  proposed  strophical  arrangement 
enables  us  to  render  a  satisfactory  translation  of  this  and  all  the  diffi- 
cult parts  of  this  poem  adds  great  strength  and  value  to  it.  Therefore 
we  may  well  question  Duhm's  remark  that  from  now  on  the  text  has 
many  defects.  There  are  several  views  offered  with  regard  to  these 
lines,  but  that  of  Duhm  is  certainly  the  most  fanciful  of  all.  Fipb,  "  he 
was  taken  away"  (not  "spirited  away,"  like  Enoch  and  Elijah  —  Ges.), 
means,  in  correspondence  with  the  context:  he  was  put  to  death. 
Here  again,  as  in  12335  in  c,  the  acting  person  is  Yahweh,  at  least  indi- 
rectly, because  he  permits  the  unlawful  procedure  on  the  part  of  the 
Jews.  This  is  certainly  the  best  explanation,  since  Yahweh  is  intro- 
duced in  IV,  #,  as  the  one  who  placed  upon  the  Servant  the  15bD  TO, 
and  after  that  the  subject  is  left  indefinite  until  V,  0,  where  it  is  again 
Yahweh  who  is  pleased  to  crush  him. 

STROPHE  v.     YAHWEH'S  PLAN  :  THE  SERVANT'S  DEATH  AND 

RESURRECTION. 

V"Qp   DTCVftK   "im  a     And  he  made '  with  the  wicked'  his  grave ; 

But  ne  was  with  the  honored3  after  his 
death/ 

032fi"fc$b   b#  c  Although  he  had  done  no  evil, 

d  Neither  was  any  deceit  in  his  mouth, 

e  Yet  il  pleased  Yahweh  to  smite  him ; 

IVD   J^nn  /  He  made  (him)  sick. —  He  died. 

1123SD   DTU8   D'""IB  S  His  sou16  having  been  made'-san  offering, 

3HT   JlXT  h  He  7  will  see  seed, 

DTQ"1  T"lfcT  *  He7  will  prolong  days, 

ITS   J"fiPP   ySni  /  And  the  pleasure  of  Yahweh  will  prosper 
in  his  hand. 

i  See  comment  and  references  on  IV,  £-,  on  the  subject  of  these  words.  Delitzsch  says:  "The 
subject  of  f)n^  *s  no*  Yahweh,  because  it  appears  in  antithesis  to  vs.  10,  yet  it  is  not  an  unnatural  sup- 
position." (But  <x,  b  are  not  antithetical  to  what  follows,  but  to  each  other.  The  apodosis  of  the  con- 
cessive clause  <r,  d  is  *,/.) 

~  I,  e.,  his  grave  was  considered  that  of  an  outcast,  a  wicked  man. 

3 Del.,  Chey.,  Or.,  Dil. :  "rich"  or  "honored;"  Duhm,  Ges.,  Ew.  change  the  text,  which  is 
unnecessary.  (The  proposed  strophical  arrangement  favors  the  text  as  it  stands,  and  the  antithesis  in 
a,  b  is  upheld  by  the  context  in  the  other  two  parts  of  the  strophe.) 

4  Duhm,  Or.,  Ew.,  Gies.,  and  others:  "his  mound."  5 Passive  participle. 

6  tEJSj  either  masc.  or  fem.  (Konig,  166;  Fiirst,  Diet.;  Gen.  46  : 25,  vja;  Numb.  31 :  28).     For  con- 
struction see  Driver,  M.  and  71.,  249^.     For  the  usage  of  Q1^5  'n  connection  with  QTEX  see  Del.,  Com. 

7  For  the  co-ordination  of  verbs  without  a  copula  see  Ges.,  AT.,  izoA. 


THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    52:13-53  1 7 

The  theme,  as  given  in  a,  b,  is  the  Servant's  death  and  resurrection. 
This  strophe  connects  itself  closely  with  the  preceding.  The  poetical 
arrangement  is  the  same  as  in  II.  The  second  part,  c,  d,  e,f  referring 
to  #,  states  very  clearly  that  it  is  Yahweh  who  permitted  the  Servant  to 
be  put  to  death.  Lines  g,  h,  i,j,  looking  back  to  b,  close  the  strophe 
by  expressing  the  satisfaction  of  the  success  of  Yahweh's  plan. 

This  is  no  doubt  the  hardest  part  of  the  poem  —  so  hard  that 
Duhm  despairingly  cries  out :  "  Es  ist  zweifelhaft,  ob  wir  jemals  den 
urspriinglichen  Wortlaut  und  Sinn  herausbekommen ;"  and  adds: 
"Der  Text  ist  hier  in  einem  greulichen  Zustande,  und  ganzlich 
unverstandlich."  There  is,  however,  only  one  slight  mistake  in  the 
text  —  that  of  the  separation  of  the  letters  into  words  (mistake  of  a 
copyist). 

Lines  a,  b  are  antithetical  (see  footnote). 

Some  change  YTtfQl  to  l'fY!25l,  "his  mound,"  but  this  is  neither 

T  T 

necessary  nor  good  Hebrew  (Dil.).  The  i  is  translated  by  "through" 
or  " after"  (Chey.).  The  latter  seems  the  better.  The  plural  in  VtYD 
may  be  explained  in  various  ways,1  but  Chey.  is  probably  right  in 
stating  that  an  intrusive  *  is  no  novelty  in  the  Old  Testament. 

Lines  c,  d  are  synonymous;  also  e,f.  Most  commentators  translate 
b2  (for  T£8  b?)  by  "though,"  but  connect  it  with  a,  b.  The  offered 
strophical  arrangement  indicates  that  the  apodosis  follows.  Duhm 
remarks  that  the  prophet  does  not  state  here  that  the  Servant  was 
without  sin,  but  only  that  he  was  no  deceiver  and  innocent;  but  it 
seems  that  the  prophet  could  not  have  stated  it  more  plainly  that  the 
Servant  was  without  sin  than  by  pronouncing  him  free  from  sin  of 
deed  and  word. 

The  1  in  e  stands  over  against  b^  in  c;  it  very  commonly  intro- 
duces the  apodosis.2  Yahweh  comes  out  with  great  force.  There  is 
no  difficulty  in  this  verse,  unless  the  text  is  changed,  but  there  is  in 
line  /.  As  it  stands,  the  passage  reads :  D^TCH  Dtf  "bm  •  The 
commentators  point  out  the  various  difficulties  of  the  text  and  try  to 
explain  them,  but  without  much  avail.  Leaving  the  text  as  it  stands, 
another  division  of  the  words  can  be  made  that  will  clear  up  the  dark- 
ness which  seems  to  cover  this  passage.  If  we,  instead  of  reading 
D^lEtl  Dtf  hbnn,  read  D^IB  Fl/2  fcrbnn,  we  have  the  verb  in  its  regular 
form,  and  avoid  the  change  of  person  and  the  awkward  translation'  of 
D^ICH  D3$-  This  arrangement  gives  us  three  short  lines  /,  h,  //  but 
this  is  not  strange,  since  the  description  is  agitated  and  lively.3 

i  Lange;  Konig,  261^.  2  Green,  306^.  3  C/.  Ges.,  K.,  i2o&;  Konig,  375^-,  357^, 


1  8  THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    52:13-53 


The  change  of  ^FT!  to  fcrbftn»  caused  by  the  proposed  arrange- 
ment of  words,  settles  all  arguments  on  this  word  and  gives  a  regular 
form  of  the  Hiphil  of  J$bri  ,  which  otherwise  would  appear  like  a  verb 


The  last  part  of  this  strophe,^,  h,  /,/,  forms  a  conditional  sentence, 
g  being  the  protasis,  and  h,  i,j  the  apodosis. 

STROPHE    VI.      YAHWEH    REWARDS   THE    SERVANT. 


a     On  account1  of  the  travail3  he  will  enjoy' 

his  life  ; 
3DTZT  b     He  wil1  be  satisfied  with  his  knowledge. 

p^S"1  c     The  righteous  one/  my  Servant,  justified 

many,5 
DlTCW  ^    For  their  sins  he  bore  ; 

"p'b  e     Therefore    will    I6    give    him   a   portion 
among  the  many,7 

bbts  pbrr  DTai^'tw  /  Even  great  7  °nes  win  he8  sive  him  as 

spoil. 


TttJX      InHn  S     Because  he  poured   out    his   soul9  unto 
death. 

Arid  was  numbered  among  sinners, 
X123D   Dh2*l"Ht3n   ^1»11   *     While  he  bore  the  sins  of  many, 

/     ^nd  interceded  for  the  transgressors. 


The  theme  of  this  strophe,  as  indicated  in  a,  b,  is:  "  Yahweh 
rewards  the  Servant."  In  form  the  strophe  corresponds  to  III.  The 
enjoyment  of  his  life,  the  satisfaction  with  his  experience,  and  the 
success  of  his  work  are  his  reward. 

Lines  a,  b  are  synonymous.  Note  the  chiasm.  Duhm  and  Gies., 
following  the  LXX  and  their  own  imagination,  make  a  number  of 
changes  in  this  strophe.  Leaving  the  text  as  it  is,  it  gives  good  mean- 

iDel.,  Dil.  :  "  on  account  of  ;"  Duhm,  Or.,  Ew.,  Ges.  :  "from;"  Lange,  Chey.  :  "after." 
a  5127  refers  to  the  painful  work  of  the  Servant. 

3  For  the  phrase  "enjoy  life"  see  Ges.  and  Fiirst,  Dt'ct.,  G.  A.  Smith,  footnote  in  E.  J5.,  345.     It 
is  also  favored  by  chiasm.    Most  commentators  take  ItDBD  w*tn  blfl^  • 

4  Attribute  before  possessor  (Del.,  Chey.,  Dil.,  Ges.,  Lange). 

5  For  b  see  Konig,  289  f.;  Ges.,  A'.,  ii7«/  Green,  Gr.,  286,  za. 

6  I.e.,  Yahweh. 

7  Most  commentators  :  "  great  and  mighty."     See  comment  on  these  words. 

8  Change  of  person  is  a  frequent  occurrence. 

9  /.  e.t  "  life-blood"  (Duhm,  Chey.,  Dil.). 


THE    STROPHIC    STRUCTURE    OF    ISAIAH    52:13-53  19 

ing  and  works  out  well  poetically.  Most  of  the  commentators  take 
IFCnn  with  line  <:,  and  explain  it  accordingly  (see  Del.).  In  accord- 
ance with  the  adopted  strophical  arrangement,  it  stands  over  against 
b523fl2  (chiasm)  :  the  Servant  has  come  back  to  life,  looks  over  his 
work,  and  is  satisfied  with  his  knowledge,  /.  <?.,  his  experience,  not  the 
knowledge  of  God  or  divine  things. 

Lines  c,  d  are  synonymous;  also  e,f.  p*1^*1  must  refer  to  the  past, 
<?,  /  being  based  on  c,  d.  Line  d  is  an  explanatory  clause  to  c.1 

The  frequent  usage  of  0*01  in  this  poem  favors  the  translation 
"many"  (cf.  I,  g,  h:  "many  ....  kings."  While  some  commenta- 
tors see  in  the  picture  the  73$  placed  among  the  great  of  the  world,  it 
seems  better  to  read  with  LXX,  Luther,  Vulg.,  and  make  him  the 
receiver  of  the  spoil,  which  consists  in  the  many  and  the  mighty  as  his 
followers  ("2  is  partitive). 

The  last  part  of  this  strophe  recapitulates  the  Servant's  work. 
Duhm  cuts  out  PTl^b  as  a  gloss.  There  is  no  cause  for  this,  other  than  a 
desire  to  adapt  it  to  his  metrical  arrangement.  Gies.  omits  the  last 
two  lines  for  the  same  purpose.  J^Wl  in  i  introduces  a  circumstantial 
clause  (Duhm,  Del.,  Dil.). 

This  brings  the  second  part  of  the  poem  to  an  end. 
The  division  of  B  is  as  follows : 
B.    Yahweh  and  the  Servant. 

IV.    Yahweh's  plan  :  the  Servant's  humiliation. 
a)  How  he  bore  the  humiliation. 
£)   Why  he  was  humiliated. 

V.    Yahweh's  plan  :  the  Servant's  death  and  resurrection. 
a)  The  Servant's  death. 

b}   After  death  awaits  him  honor.  '  '       »ii^ 

VI.    Yahweh  rewards  the  Servant.  SV 

a)  His  reward. 
b}   The  reason  for  it. 

i  Driver,  H.  T.,i6o. 


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